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Big news on the personal and professional front here. As of September, I will no longer be a middle school teacher. Due to budget cuts and the economic state of affairs here in NJ, I lost my teaching job of the past five years. Never one to sit around and do nothing, I started sending out resumes as soon as I received my RIF notice. I also posted my fate on my personal Facebook account. My high school biology teacher saw my status, got in touch with me about some opportunities, and one thing led to another….

I will be teaching freshman and senior English at my high school alma mater as of September 1st!

(And that, my dear readers, is proof positive of the power of social networking in this day and age. Had I not posted my news on Facebook, I may not have ended up with my amazing new position!)

This is a big change for me, but one I am very much looking forward to. No worries, the blog won’t change much. I will be reviewing a bit more YA but I plan to keep blogging as always. I will still be writing about language arts/English for intermediate/secondary students. I will still be reading aloud, still be instilling a love of reading and writing in my students, and I will still be blogging here.

Congratulations! I am thrilled that you have a position for next year. Your alma mater is lucky to have you back. I was not sure where you grew up. Will you need to move? Good luck with your new position. I look forward to hearing more.

Congratulations! I’m guessing that your reading and review will shift upward in age. I’m looking forward to reading your reviews of YA books, but will miss your MG reviews. I’m at a middle school that includes 5 – 8 grade, so I’m a bit all over the place.

Congratulations! I am in a junior high position, 7th and 8th, and have enjoyed your reviews. However, I taught 9th, 10th, and 11th grade English before this, quite a few years before this, and I’m thinking of changing back. However, I have never taught 12th grade English/Brit Lit and might be a bit intimidated by it. I’ll be following you with interest!

My best wishes for your transition to the new job. (My brother teaches at our alma mater; it’s always interesting to hear his stories about the teacher side.) RIF is always painful, but it’s great that you’ve been hired for this fall. I hope you love teaching high school. I enjoy your blog very much and have shared many posts with the middle school teachers I work with.

Sorry to hear about your old job, but happy to hear you got a new one so quickly! NJ is kind of the sucky state right now – our Governor is making changes that are eventually going to decimate NJ. But just a quick question – after 5 days you had to have been tenured – didn’t bumping rights give you an opportunity to take another position in your District??